Water Tower Waltz
by theClosetPoet7
Summary: Cloud swears that she had almost died once. Swears that he had failed Tifa in some way. He pictures carrying her in his arms, blood dripping from her chest like a sword had slashed through it. But, she's alive and right in front of him. Alive. His head suddenly hurts. [Set during the Original Game].


**Disclaimer:** Final Fantasy VII is not mine.

* * *

**Water Tower Waltz**

by theClosetPoet7

Summary: Cloud swears that she had almost died once. Swears that he had failed Tifa in some way. He pictures carrying her in his arms, blood dripping from her chest like a sword had slashed through it. But, she's alive and right in front of him. Alive. His head suddenly hurts. [Set during the Original Game].

* * *

_"No one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can only go where the tracks take it."_

_._

He traces the dips in her back, slowly running his finger through the groove that outlines the curve of her spine. Then, he maps an invisible scar that mirrors the one that he pictures is on her front side. He can't see in this dark room. All he can do is feel. His hand lays itself on her soft skin. Tifa stirs and he almost pulls away when she turns her head to the other side, sighing out a soft breath that innocently stirs his loins.

He observes her for a few seconds, finding himself under temptation again. However, his curious mind overcomes joining her in her deep slumber. Besides, there's time for that later. So, he lays his palm flat on her backside, as if touching her in this way can unlock something in him.

Cloud doesn't know why, but somehow, he feels like it is not the first time his hands are able to hold her in this way, and he doesn't mean in the way they pulled at each others' bodies last night. Not in the way his mind took him to the promised land as he pounded deep into her.

No.

He pictures carrying her in his arms, blood dripping from her chest, like a sword had slashed through it. The young SOLDIER abruptly withdraws his hand. The images he painted in his brain scare him. How could he see Tifa in that light? She is alive and right in front of him. Warm and soft. Strong and optimistic. Beautiful and bright. And Alive. Tifa Lockhart is alive.

He swears that she had almost died once upon a time. Swears that he had failed her in some way, even when she has never told him anything of the sort. Just the fact that they came from the same hometown. Suddenly, his head hurts too much.

_"...just like you promised."_

A promise?

_"You're late."_

What promise?

_"You came."_

"What's wrong?"

Her scarlet eyes bore into his blue ones. Every now and then, he questions their authenticity. Not hers but his. He wonders if his eyes are really the same color as the sky or were they perhaps a darker shade; anything, just as long as they're blue and not the piercing sea green orbs he sees when he closes them. Not those snake-like slits staring back, silently judging him and taking hold of all his weaknesses.

"Cloud?"

"It's nothing."

She turns over and presses the sheet closer to her body. He stares at her ample bosom, yet again contemplating if there is indeed a scar in between her two breasts. He had sucked eagerly on one just hours before, the bruises he must have left on her body would be seeping into her skin by now.

Her soft hand finds itself to his cheek and Cloud blinks, the blurry line of bright red across her chest disappears and he can only see Tifa's face as the clouds part to light his room with the rays of the Planet's moon.

"It doesn't seem like it's nothing."

Cloud stares at her intently, asking himself if she is who she says she is. He knows Tifa. It is the one thing he is certain about since arriving at Midgar. They were friends years before. Even so, it still seems like there is a missing piece to their story.

"Don't worry about it."

Settling back into his confident exterior is easy and it comes naturally that he doesn't miss a beat when he pulls Tifa to meet her lips with his. He had wondered for so long what it would be like to be with her. To be _in_ her. He doesn't even know if he's had sex with anyone else before, granted that he can't remember any other woman's face. Except hers for some reason.

It doesn't take much to ready her for him.

And it takes little to have him hard for her.

Cloud enters her moist crevice again and allows his worries to fade away. Drown those thoughts out with the sounds of her moans. Listen to nothing else but the music of their bodies coming together again.

And again.

And again.

Tonight is the first time they fuck.

He doesn't think it will be the last.

* * *

"Did you sleep well last night Cloud?"

"Next to you? Who wouldn't? "

_'Pfft, seriously? You think that sounds cool? I think you're better than that Cloud.'_

_._

Once in a while, he feels like there is someone who controls his every action. Like his thoughts are not his own. As if there is an invisible person watching over him and talking to him like it's a distant dream. He's Cloud right? He's an ex-SOLDIER, First Class, recruited by the group AVALANCHE to take down the Shinra Corporation.

He honestly doesn't care about what these people are doing to the planet. He's contemplated about leaving too. But then, where else would he go? Besides, the money is good.

He thinks that perhaps this is the purpose of his life; to fight and fight and fight. Wasn't there more though? Still, he's good at killing monsters, and he's excellent at accomplishing missions. What else is there?

"Listen Cloud, I'm asking you. Please join us."

"So! You're really leaving?! You're just going to walk right out ignoring your childhood friend?!"

So he stays.

* * *

_He's afraid to light the fuse again; to start the fire once more._

_However, when her heart opens like this, he thinks he's ready to fall for her._

_._

Her legs wrapped around his hips has always been a kink he had ever since they've reunited. With her thigh-high socks and her short skirt. Tifa pulls him closer as he keeps up the momentum of their mating. It is a sinful act, one that shouldn't occupy too much of his thoughts considering that their bombing mission tomorrow is the most dangerous one yet.

But, she feels soft,

and she feels amazing,

and she wants him too.

Hard for him to believe because fuck he's been wanting her even more since that first night. She takes him in with such care and consideration that he can't help but indulge himself in her sweet taste.

It's an affirmation for himself, granted that so many of the patrons in the bar have obviously lusted after this woman. Not that it is all he wants from her. There is something about their friendship that gives him some semblance of comfort. She has that quality about her that tells him that she's reliable, and he can count on her during their adventures. Damn she was sexy though. He would be lying if he said that being inside her like this does not make his pride swell. And it does, along with a certain part of him.

The very thought sparks another level of desire within the blonde and he increases his pace to bring her closer to the brink of ecstasy.

"Cloud."

Her hometown smile and that look in her eye, reassure him that everything will be alright.

* * *

_"You can't die now Cloud! Please! There's so much more I need to tell you!"_

_._

What did she mean by that?

Those are his last thoughts as he falls.

When he opens his eyes, he sees green orbs.

Yet, they are kinder.

And beautiful.

* * *

_Aerith reminds him of a kind sister. The way she playfully tells him that she'll reward him with a date though, teases his emotions and briefly gives him the desire for something more._

_It is easy being with her. As if nothing else matters. Like he can be himself without having to look towards his past that is still too foggy._

_Even so, the sight of Tifa in that blue dress, entering the well known red-light district, makes his blood boil. And he doesn't hesitate in following her in._

_._

"Cloud, not here."

He should be disgusted with himself but he can't help it. It will take only a few minutes. What's wrong with two adults fucking anyway? It's not like they won't make it in time.

"Tifa."

Maybe it was the way her dress clung to her figure, or maybe it was the fact that someone can walk in on them at any moment that turns him on. He swears that he can't wait for much longer. He wanted to cut off Don Corneo's dick so bad. His lecherous eyes didn't deserve to run themselves over the two innocent women's body. Or any woman for that matter.

And Tifa.

Tifa is his.

So he shuts the bathroom stall behind him and he clamps a hand over her mouth when she gasps too loudly. Unzipped pants gather around his legs while Tifa's panties bunch up on the bathroom's floor where he had tossed it aside as he finally sunk into her.

It doesn't take him long to get into a rhythm that is both harsh and hard. She takes it all in stride, as if the mere idea of him losing control stirs her insides and allows heat to pool in her belly.

His grip on her thighs tightens and it doesn't take much before he's losing the tempo he had set seconds ago.

In and out.

In and out.

That's all he does until he empties into her, chest heaving with bated breath. Heart pumping loudly until he can hear it pulse in his torso.

She wraps her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

* * *

_"Sephiroth's strength is unreal. He is far stronger in reality than any story you might have heard about him."_

_._

Why?

Why is he still alive?

Didn't he kill him?

There's blood everywhere.

Everywhere.

It doesn't scare him.

What scares him is that Sephiroth is here.

And he has to get Tifa, Aerith and Barrett away.

The Shinra building shakes and it takes minutes before he's slashing through monsters again.

But, the real monster.

The one he has to face is gone.

* * *

When he tells his story, he has an out of body experience.

As if he's not moving his lips on his own.

As if he knows his accounts are not the truth.

He keeps telling it anyway.

Because this is his current truth.

And he tries to convince himself that Tifa's troubled eyes don't bother him at all.

_'You said that you'd never forget. Hey, are you doing okay?'_

"Alright everyone, let's mosey."

.

"Oh Cloud! Your hair looks like a Chocobo!"

The rest of the party laughs. Aerith hooks her arm around Tifa's and whispers something into the other brunette's ear. They both giggle to themselves.

Cloud tosses some hay into the stable. Trying to ignore his friends' teasing.

'Wark!'

The enormous bird leans in to him, affectionately resting its feathered head on his hand.

'Such beautiful creatures.' He thinks.

The very thought of racing with them has him excited. And he pays the farmer a substantial amount of gil so he can take this particular chocobo to Golden Saucer.

.

.

.

He doesn't regret the purchase, especially when Tifa volunteers to do the race one night and he is rewarded with the sexy sight of her climbing onto the bird.

* * *

_"Oh, and you are...? It can't be! You're that ex-SOLDIER, childhood friend, and sexy playboy! A, and... a murderer!"_

_._

It irks him when Johnny says it with no hesitation. Almost as though everything the other man says holds some truth to it. And since when has he been regarded as a sexy playboy? When there was no one else except Tifa Lockhart. That is, as far as he can remember.

Images flash through his brain again but he doesn't spare it a second thought.

Still so confused.

Yet still so determined.

Tifa's blush later on catches his attention and he can't for the life of him stop himself, especially when the red-head tells _his_ girl to be happy. He claims her lips behind the closed doors of the cabanas in Costa Del Sol.

He can make her happy.

He can.

_Can't he?_

* * *

_They go around the world._

_Always in search of Sephiroth._

_The longer he evades them though,_

_The more anxious Cloud becomes_

_Because he carries this burden on his shoulders._

_And it is his fault for not finishing him off in the first place._

_._

She takes him in her mouth. Cherry lips moving up and down. Cloud threads his fingers through her long brown hair, nails digging deep into her scalp when she tilts her tongue in just the right way. His eyes focus only on the stars above as he leans his back on the surface of the smooth rock.

They are meters away from the rest. The thought of getting caught yet again makes him twitch as he involuntarily pumps his hips into her. She engulfs him in more and the sight of her carmine eyes staring up at him becomes his undoing.

He comes, whole body quivering as the mind-blowing pleasure has become too much. She puts a hand to her mouth and wipes out the remaining sticky moisture while simultaneously swallowing. Then, she gets up to press a kiss to his lips, making him get a taste of his own essence.

The buggy should be repaired by now but with the way the desert land has stirred something in his childhood friend, Cloud doesn't mind staying in Cosmo Canyon a little while longer.

* * *

_Nibelheim isn't the Nibelheim he remembers._

_None of those empty faces mean a thing to him._

_Because all he remembers are flames consuming his hometown,_

_Fire lighting up the sky, and the cries of the people he once knew._

_Tifa seems even more bothered by it than he is._

_What exactly happened here?_

_He thinks that the answer is beyond the plains of Mt Nibel._

_That the truth is buried deep within it._

_Sephiroth tells him that he is part of the reunion._

_And the very thought makes him sick._

_The very thought makes his mind crack._

_._

_._

_._

_"For the both of us... you're gonna... live. You'll be... my living legacy."_

_._

_"My honor, my dreams... they're yours now."_

.

He's between her legs now, the Highwind's shaking adds to the pleasure he is invoking within her. He laps his tongue against that sweet pink pebble and has her puty in his hands. She spreads her legs wider, and she arches her back higher. Then she gasps out, voice held in because the rooms in the airship are thinner than any hotel they've stayed in.

He pulls her thighs to the edge of his bed and fucks her with abandon. At least within her he knows exactly who he is. At least he knows who _he is_ to her. Not the puppet he is beginning to feel like. Not the First Class SOLDIER with too many expectations placed on him.

Just a man.

Just a man who is fucking Tifa Lockhart.

* * *

_"Cloud, I want to meet you. The real you."_

_._

Sometimes, Aerith's presence breaks down the walls he's built around himself. On board the gondola, under the lights of the amusement park, she looks stunning. He wonders if these emotions are really his, or if they come from another person. But, like he's been saying to himself, it is his current truth. He really does care for her. He admires her for seeing the world with so much love and kindness despite every wrong that she's been dealt with. Despite being the Last Cetra, she keeps hope alive in her.

Unlike him.

Her bright smiles and her sweet scent play at his senses. And she herself teases him with a fairy tale that feels too enchanting to be real. Yet, when he starts to feel like they can potentially become more than friends, something within him makes him feel guilty. Because not only does it feel like a betrayal towards Tifa, it also feels like disloyalty to someone else.

Who though?

It's merely potential.

Just potential.

He reaffirms this later on when the first thing he does when he returns to the hotel is knock on Tifa's door. The hurt in her eyes is almost indistinguishable but it is still there. So he spends the rest of the night telling her with his body that he's hers.

And he apologizes in his head for almost straying.

* * *

_Kiss me once._

_Kiss me twice._

_Kiss me three times._

_Cross the line._

_._

He takes her on her knees. Their bodies are concealed behind the trees. He enters her with such precision and such need. They've fucked too many times to count now. Even so, he wants to mark her as his more, wants to etch himself deep within her more. Wants her more.

More.

He is aggressive and unyielding, hands coming up to cup her breasts to press her to him.

More.

He loses himself in the wetness, the sounds of his front slapping against her pretty ass, the pleasure. He tilts her head to plunge his tongue deep into hers; hips going faster when she moans out. Her fingers press onto the grass, nails digging into the soil. And he knows. He knows that she will only ever scream for him.

Only him.

No one else.

Not Johnny.

Not that bald Turk.

No one else but him.

"Cloud!"

* * *

_He feels enormous shame._

_Because he has failed everyone again._

_And he blames himself for handing off the Black Materia._

_For allowing Sephiroth to prove that he is indeed a puppet._

_He almost attacked her._

_He almost attacked Aerith._

_He really is scum._

_._

She runs among the trees in the Sleeping Forest deep in the depths of the Forgotten Capital.

She hides like she's playing with him again, teasing him as she always does.

This time, he can't catch up to her.

She's disappearing to a far away place.

A land he can't reach.

.

.

.

"...Shut up."

"The cycle of nature and your stupid plan don't mean a thing."

"Aerith is gone."

"Aerith will no longer talk, no longer laugh, cry...or get angry... "

"What about us...what are WE supposed to do? What is this pain? My fingers are tingling. My mouth is dry. My eyes are burning!"

.

.

.

They fail to stop him.

And just like that, every good in the world is gone.

.

.

.

She smiled til the end.

* * *

_No._

_No._

_Everything he's believed in._

_Every memory he has._

_Everything shatters._

_And all he can do is apologize to everyone._

_Apologize to Tifa for being a fake persona._

_All he can do is clutch his head._

_All he can do is scream._

_His mind reeling._

_An experiment._

_A fabricated past._

_Their memories._

_It's not his._

_Everything belongs to someone else._

_._

_._

_._

_The last thing he remembers is the crater shaking violently,_

_And his body falling._

_Falling._

_Falling._

_Into the Lifestream._

_And then,_

_Total darkness._

_._

* * *

Her voice calls out to him in the deep recesses of his mind.

She appears before him like a dream.

And she goes through this journey with him, slowly piecing the puzzle together.

She lets him recall bits of it himself as if she's also unsure, asking him of his motives, his dreams, his life's meaning.

_"Who? You. That's who."_

And she stays by his side.

He is real.

She makes him feel like he is real.

She tells him that he is real.

_She_ makes_ him_ real.

And they leave this place with hands and hearts intertwined.

Closer than they've ever been before.

_"So, we meet again."_

* * *

_"Cloud, do you think the stars can hear us? Do you think they see how hard we are fighting for them?"_

_._

_"Words aren't the only way to tell people what you're thinking."_

_._

He's free falling in.

All in her.

Because he knows who he is now.

Knows that he's Cloud.

She straddles him with a shyness in her eyes that he's never seen before. As if this is their first time. And it feels like it is. He feels like he has taken off the mask and now she can see him clearly. No walls. No shields to block his true form. He supposes that it is the same for her.

He sees the scar for the first time.

It's a sight that pains him but gives him comfort all the same.

Because it is proof that they're both real.

Tifa's cheeks are adorned with rose colored hues when she takes him inside her.

Fuck.

Longer.

A little longer.

Can they stay like this a little longer?

"I wanted to hold your hand."

She gasps out as he's fully sheathed within her.

"That night we made our promise underneath the stars. I wanted to hold your hand Cloud."

She pulls him in closer.

"I wanted to hold your hand and never let go."

His upward thrusts are gentle. Easing into her carefully, like she'd break along with him if he got rough like the way he always did. So he grants her wish and laces their fingers together. He holds her hands.

It is a connection so simple yet so intimate.

He tightens his grip when a wave of euphoria washes over him. No, he doesn't want it to be over too soon. So he stops their movements. And he embraces her.

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

He murmurs into her chest.

"I wrote those words into paper. I couldn't send it because I didn't know where."

Her soft voice, albeit hesitant touches his heart. And it beats harder than ever, to the cadence of the waltz they were in just moments ago. But, he holds in his desire.

Just so he can hear her breathing.

For she's alive.

And he's alive.

He can't stop himself long enough before he's turning her on her back. Knees harrowing into the grass as he moves again. They're below the Highwind, spending the night with one another because it could very well be their last. He finds her amidst the chaos of Meteor's eventual arrival. And he sees her. Really sees her.

"Cloud."

"I'm here."

He thinks that she was made to be his.

That everything they've been through since that night on the water tower led them to this very moment.

Their very own reunion.

_"This is probably the last time we can be together."_

He picks up the pace and embeds himself into her soul, the same way she has crawled deep into his. And there are no words needed then.

None.

Not with the way their bodies cry out in absolute ecstasy.

Not when she's lying beneath him, flushed and panting.

Not when he swells inside her and pours out all his feelings.

.

.

.

They may die tomorrow.

They may die.

But tonight.

With just the two of them.

On a night that reminded him of their shared promise.

With the vastness of the sky...

...and the billions of stars above them,

Tifa beckons him home, with her lovely smile and her heart full of acceptance.

A ghost of a smile makes its way to his lips as he holds her.

They may die.

If they do.

He'll keep her close.

He won't let her go.

If they die...

It won't matter.

Because tonight.

.

.

.

The world is theirs.

.

.

.

_fin_

* * *

**Author's Note:** Did anyone ask for some smut? Not really, but oh well. :D This is a compliment to my other fic "A Long Way from Nibelheim."

Some scenes are inspired by the following songs:

"Timebomb" by Walk the Moon

"Hometown Smile" by Bahjat Etorjman

"Falling All In" by Shawn Mendes

"Don't Think Twice" by Utada Hikaru

and of course by the quotes throughout the game.

Some of the lines were ones I wrote in my Cloti content on my Tumblr: theclosetpoet7 :D

R R!


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